Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:159
Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects - you, [O Muhammad], are not [associated] with them in anything. Their affair is only [left] to Allah; then He will inform them about what they used to do.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His, the Exalted's, word: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا دِينَهُمْ وَكَانُوا شِيَعًا لَسْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects, you have nothing to do with them; their affair rests only with Allah; then He will inform them about what they used to do") (159)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed over the reading of His word: فرقوا ("they have divided").
It has been related from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him, the following:
14252 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, that ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, read: "inna lladhīna fāraqū dīnahum" ("Indeed, those who have abandoned their religion").
14253 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, saying: Ḥamza al-Zayyāt said: ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, read it: "fāraqū dīnahum" ("they have abandoned their religion").
14254 - ... And he said: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Qatāda: "fāraqū dīnahum" ("they have abandoned their religion").
* * *
It is as though ʿAlī, by his statement "fāraqū dīnahum," meant: they went out from it and apostatized from it (irtaddū) — derived from "al-mufāraqa" (abandoning, separating from).
* * *
And ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd read it as follows:
14255 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Rāfiʿ related to us, on the authority of Zuhayr, saying: Abū Isḥāq related to us that ʿAbdallāh used to read it as: فرّقوا دينهم ("they have divided their religion").
* * *
And according to this reading — I mean the reading of ʿAbdallāh — read the reciters of Medina, Basra, and most of the reciters of Kufa. It is as though ʿAbdallāh, by that reading in that manner, explained it thus: that the religion of Allah is one, and that is the religion of Ibrāhīm, the pure submitting monotheism (al-ḥanīfiyya al-muslima); the Jews and the Christians divided it, so a people became Jews and others Christians, and they made of it scattered, divided sects.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct statement concerning that is to say: they are both well-known readings, each of which was independently recited by imams among the reciters, and they agree in meaning and do not differ. That is because every astray person abandons his religion (mufāriq), and the parties (al-aḥzāb) divided the religion of Allah which He had chosen for His servants, so that some became Jews, others Christians, and some Magians. And that is precisely "the dividing" (al-tafrīq), and the becoming of its adherents into scattered, non-united sects; so they are, with respect to the true religion of Allah, abandoners (mufāriqūn) and dividers (mufarriqūn). With whichever of the two the reciter recites, he attains the truth; except that I prefer the reading according to which the majority of the reciters read, and that is the doubling (tashdīd) of the "rāʾ" in "farraqū."
* * *
Then the exegetes differed over who is meant by His word: إن الذين فرّقوا دينهم ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion").
Some of them said: by it are meant the Jews and the Christians.
* Mention of who said that:
14256 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning Allah's word: وكانوا شيعًا ("and became sects"), he said: Jews.
14257 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, in a similar manner.
14258 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: فرقوا دينهم ("they have divided their religion"), he said: they are the Jews and the Christians.
14259 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects") — of the Jews and the Christians.
14260 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا لست منهم في شيء ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects, you have nothing to do with them") — these are the Jews and the Christians. And as for His word: فارقوا دينهم ("they have abandoned their religion"), He says: they abandoned their religion and became sects.
14261 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects"), and that is because the Jews and the Christians differed among themselves before Muḥammad was sent, and they became divided. So when Muḥammad was sent, Allah revealed: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا لست منهم في شيء ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects, you have nothing to do with them").
14262 - It has been related to me from al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects"), by it are meant the Jews and the Christians.
14263 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī related to us, on the authority of Shaybān, on the authority of Qatāda: "fāraqū dīnahum" ("they have abandoned their religion"), he said: they are the Jews and the Christians.
* * *
And others said: by it are meant the people of bidʿa (heretical innovations) from this community, those who followed the ambiguous (mutashābih) of the Qurʾān rather than its clear (muḥkam).
* Mention of who said that:
14264 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion"), he said: this verse was revealed concerning this community.
14265 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, on the authority of Abū Hurayra: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects"), he said: they are the people of prayer (ahl al-ṣalāh).
14266 - Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, saying: Baqiyya ibn al-Walīd related to us, saying: ʿAbbād ibn Kathīr wrote to me, saying: Layth related to me, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said concerning this verse: "إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا لست منهم في شيء ('Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects, you have nothing to do with them') — and they have nothing to do with you; they are the people of bidʿa, the people of doubts, and the people of misguidance from this community."
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct statement concerning that, in my view, is to say: Allah informed His prophet ﷺ that he is free (barīʾ) of whoever abandoned His true religion and divided it, and who became, in that, into groupings, parties, and sects, and that he does not belong to them and they do not belong to him. For his religion with which Allah sent him is Islam, the religion of Ibrāhīm, the pure monotheism (al-ḥanīfiyya), as his Lord said to him and commanded him to say: قُلْ إِنَّنِي هَدَانِي رَبِّي إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ دِينًا قِيَمًا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ ("Say: Indeed, my Lord has guided me to a straight path, an upright religion, the creed of Ibrāhīm, the pure monotheism; and he was not of the polytheists") [sūra al-Anʿām: 161].
So whoever abandoned his religion with which he ﷺ was sent — whether it be a polytheist, an idolater, a Jew, a Christian, or an innovating deviant (mutaḥannif mubtadiʿ) who introduced into the religion something whereby he strayed from the straight path and the upright religion, the creed of Ibrāhīm the submitting one — he is free of Muḥammad ﷺ, and Muḥammad is free of him; and he falls under the generality of His word: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا لست منهم في شيء ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects, you have nothing to do with them").
* * *
And as for His word: لست منهم في شيء إنما أمرهم إلى الله ("you have nothing to do with them; their affair rests only with Allah") — the exegetes differed over its explanation.
Some of them said: this verse was sent down upon the prophet of Allah with the command to refrain from fighting (qitāl) against the polytheists, before the obligation of fighting them became binding; then it was abrogated (nasakha) by the command to fight them in "sūra Barāʾa," and that is His word: فَاقْتُلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَيْثُ وَجَدْتُمُوهُمْ ("Then kill the polytheists wherever you find them") [sūra al-Tawba: 5].
* Mention of who said that:
14267 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: لست منهم في شيء إنما أمرهم إلى الله ("you have nothing to do with them; their affair rests only with Allah") — he was not commanded to fight them, then it was abrogated, and he was commanded to fight them in "sūra Barāʾa."
* * *
And others said: no, it was sent down upon the prophet ﷺ as a notification from Allah to him that there will be among his community people who will introduce innovations into his religion after him. And it is not abrogated (mansūkha), for it is a report (khabar) and not a command, and abrogation (al-naskh) occurs only in the case of the command and the prohibition.
* Mention of who said that:
14268 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: Mālik ibn Mighwal informed us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn al-Aqmar, on the authority of Abū l-Aḥwaṣ, that he recited this verse: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا لست منهم في شيء ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects, you have nothing to do with them"), and then he said: your prophet ﷺ is free of them.
14269 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father, Ibn Idrīs, Abū Usāma, and Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Mālik ibn Mighwal, in a similar manner.
14270 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Shujāʿ Abū Badr related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Mulāʾī, who said: Umm Salama said: let a person beware lest he have nothing to do with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ! Then she recited: إن الذين فرقوا دينهم وكانوا شيعًا لست منهم في شيء ("Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects, you have nothing to do with them"). ʿAmr ibn Qays said: Murra al-Ṭayyib said the same, and he recited this verse.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct statement concerning that is to say: His word: لست منهم في شيء ("you have nothing to do with them") is a notification from Allah to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ that he is free of the innovators of his community who deviate in his religion (al-mulḥida fī dīnih), and of the parties among the polytheists of his people, and of the Jews and the Christians. And in this notification to him there is nothing that necessitates that He forbade him to fight them, for it is not absurd that the statement should carry the meaning: "you have nothing to do with the religion of the Jews and the Christians, so fight them. For their affair rests with Allah: that He bestows favor upon whom He wills of them and turns to him in forgiveness, and whoever of them He wills to destroy as a disbeliever, He takes his soul, or kills him by your hand on account of his disbelief; then He informs them about what they used to do at their coming to Him." And since it is not absurd that the command to fight them should coincide with His word: لست منهم في شيء إنما أمرهم إلى الله ("you have nothing to do with them; their affair rests only with Allah"), and since there is in the verse no clear proof that it is abrogated, nor has any report from the Messenger been transmitted that it is abrogated — it is not permissible to rule concerning it that it is abrogated, until there comes a binding proof that necessitates the correctness of that statement, on account of what we have set forth, namely that the abrogated verse is that whose coinciding with its abrogator (nāsikh) in one and the same state is not possible, as in our book entitled "al-Laṭīf ʿan uṣūl al-aḥkām."
* * *
And as for His word: إنما أمرهم إلى الله ("their affair rests only with Allah") — He says: I am the One with whom rests the affair of these polytheists, who abandoned their religion and became sects, and of the innovators of your community who strayed from your way — with Me and with none other than you and none else. Either by punishment, if they persist in their misguidance and their dividing of their religion, so that I destroy them thereby; or by forgiveness for them, by My turning to them in acceptance of repentance and bestowing favors from Me upon them — ثم ينبئهم بما كانوا يفعلون ("then He will inform them about what they used to do"), He says: then I will inform them in the Hereafter at their coming to Me on the Day of Resurrection about what they used to do, and I will requite each of them according to what they used to do in the worldly life: the doer of good among them with good, and the doer of evil with evil. Then He informed, exalted be His praise, how great is His requital for whomever of them He requites with good or with evil, and said: مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ فَلا يُجْزَى إِلا مِثْلَهَا وَهُمْ لا يُظْلَمُونَ ("Whoever comes with a good deed, for him is tenfold the like of it; and whoever comes with an evil deed, he is requited only with the like of it, and they will not be wronged").
